Automatically collapsible chair



Dec. 19, 1933. WARNER 1,939,743

AUTOMATICALLY COLLAPSIBLE CHAIR Filed Aug.,2o, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5:4 JNVENTOR Ilium- Dec. 19, 1933. ARNE 1,939,743

AUTOMATICALLY COLLAPSIB LE CHAIR Filed Aug. 20, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I I Patented Dec. 19, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,939,743 AUTOMATICALLY COLLAPSIBLE CHAIR Edward Warner, Jersey City, N. J.

Application August 20, 1932. Serial No. 629,589 3 Claims. (01.155-139) There is involved in this chair a capacity of automatically collapsing to a small compass and centrally thereof to a vertical structure; with means for readily opening or expanding the i same. The chair is normally collapsed being held so by a spring, which is its collapsing agent, and is opened by permitting one of its legsto bear on the floor and pressing downward onits back. A catch and locking device is included to hold it in an opened condition. Release of the catch by pressing on it causes the chair to automatically collapse. The seat of the chair is made of suspended and distended cordage and tape and affords an ellicient and comfortable seat which in a collapsed condition of the chair is yieldable and easily compressible. This chair which can serve wherever a chair is required is particularly an emergency chair; it can be used in the house, and being capable of light and compact construction is easily portable and transportable and can consequently be carried by the hiker or in an automobile and made very useful out of doors, in the open fields and country, at games, or in the shade and under the shelter of trees,and in many 25 other ways that will occur to its possessor.

In the following is given a comprehensive description of my invention, with references to the accompanying drawings, which include 8 figures,

wherein all of the parts are properly numbered- 80 the same bearing the same numbers in all of the figures.

Fig. 1 is a front view of the chair in its normally collapsed condition; Fig. 2, a rear view in collapsed condition with the hammock seat omit- 85 ted; Fig. 3,- a perspective view of theexpanded chair. Fig. 4 is a larger scale perspective drawing of the rearward legs mounted on the rockingbeam with the spring which effects the collapse of the chair. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the chair without the seat. Fig. 6 is a fragment in perspective of a connection of theback withthe rearward leg. Fig. 7 is a plan of the lateral expanding mechanism, and Fig. 8 is an alternate of Fig. 7, with a single restraining-rod.

The two legs 1, l are hingedly secured at their tops to the rocking-beam 2, one on each side of v the same, to move rearwardly; and a spring 3 is coiled about a pin 4 of the said hinging. n the space within the rocking-beam 2. A hinge 5, pivoted centrally of the chair has its ends secured respectively to the tops of the legs 1, l, and provides the means of their lateral movement. The .two clips 6, 6 connect the forward ends of the spring 3, individually with the two plate members of the hinge 5, see Figs. 4 and 5, and the other end of the spring 3, is restrained at the rear of the rocking-beam 2, by the cross bar 7. The spring 3 is tensioned to bring the rocking-beam 2, and the legs 1, 1, in vertical alignment and thereby collapse the chair and hold it collapsed. Two back bars 8, 8, which compose the back of the chair are hinged to a handle 9, at pivot 10; the back bars 8, 8 have their upper ends curved inwardly to give intervening space to the handle 9, which latter has a lower extension which extension has near its top the two openings or punctures 11 and 12. Thelocking-bar 13, has a clip 15, at its upper end which engages the extension of the handle 9, on which it is slidably mounted and the latter engages the locking-bar 13, by the clip 14at its lower end. A spring catch 17, with an upper projection 18, and an adjacent projection 19, that pass respectively through the opehingsil and 12, of the handle 9, is secured to the latter. In expanding the chair the extension of thehandle 9 is slid downwardly on the lockingbar 13, which is provided with an opening 16, which is engaged by the projection 19, of the spring catch 17, which effectively holds the chair opened, its closingis attained by pressure on the so projection 18, of the catch 17, which disengages the locking-bar 13, and leaves the spring 3 free to close the chair. The rearward legs 1, 1, are provided with the plates having the pivots 20 and 21, and the lower ends of the back bars 8, 8 of the back have securedto each of theme. hinge 22, as shown in Fig. 6, and these are individually secured to the legs 1, 1, by the pivots 20, 20. The forward leg 23 is hinged at its top in the rearward end of the rocking-beam 2, by the pin 24, and it has on its front and near its center the pivots 25, 25, projecting from each of its sides, and in similar manner and kind near its top the pivots 26, 26; on -the back of the back bars 8, 8, about the middle of the same is secured the pivots 2'7, 27;.four link-bars 28, 28 are provided with holes at their ends, and two of these link together the rearward legs 1, 1, with the forward leg 23, by means of the pivots 21, 21 and 25, 25; the other two hingedly unite the forward leg 23, with the back bars 8, 8, of the back on the pivots 26, 26, and 27, 2'7. Two plate pieces 29, each with a' hole at each of its ends, secured to each side of the leg 23, about upwards of its length, have hinged in them the butt 31, at the front, and the butt 30, at the rear of the leg 23; in the latter are hinged to move sidewise the restraining-rods 34,, 34. To the lower end of the locking-bar 13 is hinged the butt '32, in which are hinged to move laterally the expansion arms 33, 33, the

other ends of the latter being individually mounted beneath the hinges 22, 22, on the pivots 20, 20, on the legs 1, 1, the lower ends of the restrainingrods 34, 34, being individually hinged to the arms 33, 33, near to the butt 32. In considering the opening of the chair and the manner of effecting it; attention is called to the fact that in this operation the forward leg 23 is a stationary factor, and that, all of the contributing parts in that act are hingedly connected thereto; the links 28, 28, in the collapsed chair hold positions almost vertical, and the expansion arms 33, 33, as shown in Fig. 2, approximate a V formation; but when downward pressure is put on the back or handle 9, with the leg 23, hearing on the floor, these links and arms approximate the horizontal; and in their movement to this position they carry all of the parts attached to them, in opposition to the leg 23, to expanded position; the locking-bar 13, is raised, and the handle 9, moving down on it enables the spring catch 17, to engage it, and hold the chair locked expanded.

There will be instances in the manufacture of this chair in varying sizes where the two restraining-bars 34, 34, will not be required and where a single bar will serve better: In Fig. 8 there is shown a construction wherein the restrainingbar 35 takes the place of the butt 30, hinged in the plates 29, 29, and its lower termination is hinged directly with the locking-bar 13, and laterally with the expansion arms 33, 33; I claim the optional use of either of the forms of construction shown in Figs. '7 and 8.

Two distension-rods 37, 37, are hinged in the butt 31, on the front of the leg 23, to move sidewise and oppositely of each other, their upper ends terminating in the loops 38, 38, and their movements being controlled by the loops 39, 39,

, engaging them individually and mounted on the.

legs 1, 1. The seat of the chair is composed of two diminutive hammocks 40, 40, made of cord or tape and a suspender 41, made of tape or-other suitable flexible material. The ends of the suspender 41 are secured in the loops 38, 38, of the distension-rods 3'7, 3'7, and in the middle it is supported by the end 42, of the rocking-beam 2. These three supporting points afford a support for the thighs of the occupant of the seat which proves very comfortable.

The cord of the hammocks 40, 40, is passed about the back bars 8, 8, of the backand through the loops 38, 38, of the distension rods 37, 37,'and they are retained in position on the back by the loops 43, 43, secured to the back bars 8, 8. A metallic T 44, provided with the holes 45, 45, in which the strands of the hammocks 40, 40 are secured serves as a spreader for each of them; laterally the cords 46, 46, tied to those of the hammocks 40, 40, keep the latter spaced apart and flexibly unite the hammocks 40, 40.

The resultant of the foregoing elements combined'in forming theseat, is an efficient, comfortable seat, anatomically accommodative of its occupant.

When the chair is collapsed the cordage of the hammocks 40, 40 straggles about as shown in Fig. 1, but it is yieldable and readily compressible and adds little or nothing to the dimensions of the chair. i

The material to be used in the making of the frame work of this chair, I anticipate, will be a combination of wood and metal much as the drawings represent it; but I also expect that it will be constructed of all metal of various kinds in which case I expect that there will be a departure in the construction of some of its details but not in the principle of this invention. In the claims, the leg 23 will be referred to as the standard leg, and the legs 1, l as the expanding legs.

With the description of my invention completed I ask the allowance of the following claims:

1. In an automatically collapsible chair, in combination, a standard leg, an expanding leg traversing the said standard leg at each of its sides, a rocking beam pivotally connecting at their ,tops and at a distance apart the standard leg with the expanding legs, the said rocking beam being placed between the expanding legs with its forward end projecting from them, a lateral hinge secured at the upper ends of the expanding legs at the front of the same, two back bars with inwardly turned upper ends pivoted together thereat, the lower ends of the said back bars being pivoted to the backs of the expanding legs near their midlength, four connecting links with pivot holes at their ends at a distance apart at their .forward ends corresponding with those of the rocking beam, two of the said connecting links pivotally connecting the standard leg with the expanding legs intermediately of the length of the said legs, the other two of the said connecting links substantially paralleling the first two, pivotally connecting the upper end of the standard leg with theback bars, the pivotal points of the said connecting links being on the front side of the standard leg and-on the rearward sides of the expanding legs and the back bars, an elongated handle with two openings therethrough mounted on the back bars at their tops, a spring catch secured to the said elongated handle with two projections coinciding with and passing through its openings, a locking bar with an opening at its upper end engaging the lower projection of the said spring catch when the chair is expanded with means for slidably mounting the said locking bar at the back of the elongated handle, the upper projection of the said spring catch disengaging it from the locking-bar when pressure is put on it, a butt hinged to the lower end of the locking bar, two expansion arms hinged in the said butt one of them at each side of the locking bar, two restraining rods pivoted at the back of the standard leg with their lower ends hinged individually to the aforementioned expansion arms near their inner ends, the extreme ends of the expansion arms being pivoted with the back bars to the expanding legs, two distension rods with the upper end of each terminating in a loop pivotally mounted at their lower ends on the front of the standard leg, two loops slidably engaging the said distension rods individuallywith the expanding legs towhich the said loops are secured, a spring coiled about a pin hinging the rocking beam and the expanding legs together with means securing its ends to the said expanding legs and rocking beam in a manner to effect their folding up and in consequence the collapse of the entire chair, a seat made of cord in the form of two diminutive flexibly conjoined hammocks each suspended from a secured point of one of the back bars to a loop of one of the distension rods and each laterally distended by a T-shaped spreader secured to the hammocks so that their crossheads coincide with the sides of the seat, in addition a tape suspender forming the front margin of the seat secured at its ends in the loops of the distension rods and intermediately to the forward end of the rocking beam, all substantially as set forth.

. 2. In an automatically collapsible, chair, a pair of forwardly and upwardly extending, converging rear legs, pivotally connected at their upper ends, a rocking beam connected by a spring hinge to the upper ends of the rear legs, a front leg extending upwardly and rearwardly between the rear legs and pivoted to the rocking beam, a pair of upwardly converging back bars, pivotally connected at their upper ends and pivoted at their lower ends to the rear legs, linkage connections between the front leg and rear legs and between the front leg and back bars, a pair of upwardly diverging distending rods whose lower ends are pivoted together and pivotally connected to the front leg, said distending rods being slidably connected to the rear legs, near their upper ends, a flexible seat supported between the upper ends of the distending rods and the back bars, a handle on the upper ends of the back bars, a locking bar slidably connected at its upper end to the handle and by links at its lower end to the front and rear legs, and locking means for holding the locking bar in its upper position against sliding down along the handle whereby the chair is held expanded and whereby, upon release of the locking means, the chair is automatically collapsed.

3. An automatically collapsible chair comprising an upwardly and rearwardly extending front leg, a pair of forwardly extending and upwardly converging rear legs, one on each side of the front leg and in crossed relation thereto, a rocking beam resiliently pivoted to the upper ends of the legs, upwardly converging back bars pivoted together at their upper ends and pivoted at their lower ends to the rear legs, a flexible seat supported between the back bars and rocking beam, means connecting the front leg to the seat, rear legs, and back bars to cause the seat, rear legs, and back bars to fold laterally under the action of the resilientpivoted rocking beam, and means to lock the chair in expanded condition. 1

EDWARD WARNER. 

